The Jesus Hilario Show
I’m Jesus Hernandez, sharing real thoughts on faith, life, and personal growth. Each episode is a reflection from the heart — honest, unfiltered, and grounded in perspective. Whether it’s about culture, relationships, or spiritual insight, my goal is to spark thought and inspire truth.
The Jesus Hilario Show
EP110: Open Mic #8 - Imposter Syndrome, Using AI to Write Jokes, and Learning Setups
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My eighth open mic at Rich's pool hall on January 4th, 2026—first open mic of the new year! In this episode, I share the totally different experience of performing in a pool hall venue, dealing with imposter syndrome after the set ("Dude, am I funny?"), and learning that even experienced comics get it all the time. I discuss my writing process: using pen and paper, computer typing, Gemini for research, and ChatGPT to help write jokes and get ideas—some AI jokes get laughs, some non-AI jokes get laughs, it's a combination. Learn why Jerry Seinfeld writes only with pen and paper while the Joke Doctor uses computer, and why my wife says "just use what works for you—you don't have to do what everybody else is doing." I share advice for someone going up for the first time who doesn't feel they have enough material (I didn't either), why you need to recite and memorize jokes so your memory doesn't escape you on stage, and how memorization lets your natural voice come out. Important realization: the joke is a guide and the path may change but you're going in the general direction—learning to slow down, speed up, pause, and let the audience understand. Can't drop them in the middle of your thought—that's why they call it a setup. Person, place, thing: who, what, when, where, why—set them up in the space, then hit them with what they didn't expect. Very cognitive writing translated to people. Eighth shot at open mic.
Chapters- (00:00:00) - Open Mic #8
- (00:04:31) - Jimmy Kimmel on Starting Late
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So I had open mic number eight last night, January 4th, at Rich's on Sunday. Totally different experience from the other open mics, different venue. Um this one's actually in a pool hall. I'll call it a pool hall because it's mostly pool tables. Um definitely, definitely different. Um, so I was kind of gauging the laughs from the people that were in the front of the stage, most of them comics. So I got a few smiles, a few laughs, and now looking back, I know I feel like now it's better to go up prepared. Meaning prepare the joke that you're gonna work on. And I know now, in fact, actually I I know now that I need to recite what I'm going to do, like say it over and over, like say it, like recite the joke so that way it's in my head and it and my memory is less prone to escaping me when I'm up there on stage.
SPEAKER_00And then man, and even like after that open mic imposter syndrome set in. Like, dude, am I funny?
SPEAKER_01You know, it's it was big time uh um not a cool feel. I mean it's that and I asked another local comic who's been doing it for a while, I asked him if he ever gets imposter syndrome and he says, like, dude, I get it all the time. So I guess it's normal, you know.
SPEAKER_00Um to to think that for whatever reasons i it happens in our mind. Excuse me.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, that was that was a that was definitely a learning process. It's like everything there's definitely something that I learned that's new from that mic, particular mic, because it seems like every other one I've learned something about myself. Uh so I'll sh I guess I'll share some of my writing process at the moment. I just started writing early this past week on an actual pen and paper, putting my ideas on pen and paper. Um I've also been typing them out on my computer, and I I I've been using research tools, I've been using like Gemini to research topics, and then uh I I'm using another AI, uh like like ChatGBT to help me uh write jokes and get ideas and stuff like that. Which, excuse me, some of the jokes that have come from there, um people laugh at them, which is cool, and then they also laugh at other jokes that I didn't make on AI, so it's like a combination of of like everything. I listen to these, like I listen to like like for instance, like Jerry Seinfeld, he says that they say that he write, all he does is write with pen and paper. And I've listened to another guy um on YouTube, the joke doctor, or something. He he does all his on computer, and so I don't I don't want to put myself in like a particular box, like I need to write only on paper, or I need to do the only on computer. I was talking to my wife about it yesterday too. She's like, just use what's help what works for you. I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. You know, I don't have to do what everybody else is doing or what the most famous people are doing. Still get advice though, you know, still see what they say, but you don't have to follow it like it's law, you know what I mean? You still I still have to develop who I am as a person and use what works for me. Another thing I'm thinking about, there's another local guy who wants to try um coming for the first time. I saw him out there again. I had seen him before uh at another open mic, and he was out there and he said he was saying that he he doesn't he feels like he doesn't have enough material and that he he might he might not go up. I was like, that's very understandable because when I went up my first open mic, I didn't have any material at all. I it was just like I mean I had I had some idea, but looking back now, it's like I I wish I had shoulda coulda woulda, right? But I'm now looking back, I I wish I would have had it more prepared, like like I'm doing wanting to do right now is say it over and over and recite it.
SPEAKER_00Uh like back at open mic number one.
SPEAKER_01And then now I'm looking at like reciting it and saying it over and over, and I'm like, what the and I'm doing that so that I can have some type of memory of the joke because I feel like once I recite it and kind of memorize it, then I can then like my voice will come out. Be you know what I mean, like it'll come out naturally to what I'm thinking because I feel like it's not gonna be exactly verbatim on stage for the next open mic. I feel like it's just like a it's like a guide, and the path may change, but you're still going in the general direction type of thing. And and like the path is is your is my comedic, my own personal voice, my personal comedic path. And the guide, the direction is like the the general direction that I'm going. It's not a particular step, a particular pause, you know, those types of things, those things, those are the things that I'm learning that I'm learning to use to be funny because it seems like I have to learn how to slow down, speed up, pause, you know, let them let the audience understand what's happening, what I'm talking about, because I feel like a lot of the stuff that I'm writing is very cognitive, like very from my like trying to translate what's happening in my brain to people. And I have to do that in a way to where like if like I can't throw them to into the middle of my thought because they're gonna be lost, like totally lost. It's like dropping somebody in the middle of you know, somewhere, and they're like, Where that like where am I? You know, I have to show them the set, I have to set it up for them. That's that's why they call it a setup. Now I'm thinking about like that's why they call it a setup. So you put it, you you set them up, you let them know like these are this is the person place or thing. You're like telling the story, like person, place, thing, who, what, when, where, why, all that stuff. Then they have all that in their mind, and then you and then you throw the punchline. Like, boom, like they thought they were they are in a space, right? And they know the surroundings, and they they thought they were going a certain direction in those surroundings, and then you just hit them with something that's like they didn't expect in those surroundings. If that makes sense. I hope that makes sense later on uh whenever I'm writing jokes, or if even any comedy comedians are listening to this and agree with it, that would be cool. Um yeah, so that that's my that was my did I say eighth? I can't remember. I think it was eighth. Let me see. I think I wrote it down here. I think that's my eighth shot at open mic. Um C last time was seven, I think. Sorry guys.
SPEAKER_00Once again, I gotta get prepared.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I wrote it down. I can't remember where it's there. It is. Uh, yeah, so last one was seven, which this was the first one of the new year of 2026, which is number eight. Let me write this down. Number eight, uh, one, four, twenty six. Yeah. So that's my that's my current thought right now. I could I could go longer and talk about more stuff. But excuse me. About my life and stuff, what's going on. But see you guys later. Thanks for a lot for watching for for listening. Have a good one.
unknownBye.
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